The Opener

The Opener

Listen to that wind, my beloved! How it howls and whines! I would not care to be out on a night like this, would you? How lucky we are to be inside, so snug and warm. Yes. So warm. In front of such a lovely hot fire. But we shall need the fire a lot hotter shan't we?

There. More wood. And now a few sharp pokes. Yes, that's good. Soon be nice and hot. Hot enough for our purposes.

Take a while, though. Yes it will. Long enough for a story.

Yes, my beloved. A story. You like Mummy's stories, don't you. Well, this one you've heard before, but it doesn't hurt to tell it again, does it? A good story always bears repeating, I say. Are you comfortable?...No...don't struggle.

You are comfortable, aren't you, my beloved? Of course you are. Then I shall begin.

A long time ago, my beloved, long before you were born, it was. Well, in those days, you could walk outside you know. Every day. And you didn't have to wear lots of clothing to protect you from the cold and rays that make you sick. No you didn't.

In those days, my beloved, you could see the sun almost all the time. That's right. The sun. I've told you about the sun before, haven't I? Well, it was warm outside in those days, and bright, and it didn't turn your skin funny if you stayed out too long. No, just a dark brown colour, which was alright. Not black and smelly like your late Uncle. Not greeny-blue, like Mummy's fingers, the ones that fell off.

Dark brown your skin went. And it was called a "sun-tan". And people used to fly all over the world, in search of places where they could lie outside in the sunshine, just to get one of those sun-tans.

Sorry, beloved. Mummy's drooling...

Anyway, where was I? Oh yes.

Well, it was like that in those days. Lovely it was. Not like now, when it's always dark outside, and everywhere's covered with snow, and if you stay outside for too long, you go all stiff and dead like your Auntie Janet.

Yes, it wasn't always like this, my beloved. You see, now, all over the world, we are living in what they call a "nuclear winter". I've told you what a nuclear winter is, haven't I, beloved? Yes, I have. How the sun never shines anymore, so all the plants in the world have died, all the crops and all the forests...and now that all the plants are dead, well then so are all the animals that used to eat them.

And we used to eat the animals, didn't we, my beloved.

Yes, all because of the bombs it was. The nuclear bombs. But we were lucky, beloved - your Uncle and your Auntie, and your Daddy, God rest their souls. We were all lucky, because we weren't killed by the bombs, and we managed to find this place, didn't we. Deep, deep underground. And filled with...filled with what, my beloved?

Food! Cans and cans of food. Enough to last a lifetime! And so, beloved, we never needed to leave here. So long as we had enough wood and coal to keep warm, and plenty of clothes to wear for going outside - you know, the ones with the funny helmets - we could be happy for ever and ever!

And you were born here, weren't you, my beloved.

Well, that was nearly ten years ago now, beloved. And your Uncle and your Auntie got ill and died of the sickness from the outside rays, and then your Daddy left to get some more parts to repair our radio - and we never saw HIM again, did we?

So then it was just you and me, beloved. My little baby girl, who was born in this very room. Yes, the room we are in now. The room with the fire that is almost hot enough.

And we could have lived here together for years and years, my beloved. Just the two of us, and all those cans full of food.

But you had to go and lose the can-opener, beloved. Didn't you.

And we've had nothing to eat for five days now.

So you see why Mummy has to kill you, don't you, my beloved? Mummy's just so hungry, she can't think of anything but food. And you're the only thing left that she can eat.

The fire's almost hot enough for roasting, beloved. And I know this knife isn't too sharp, but it's all I've got, now that I ruined all the others, trying to open the cans.

So, my beloved, are you sure you can't remember where you put the can-opener?

Write a Review
Did you enjoy my story? Please let me know what you think by leaving a review! Thanks,
Spacewarp

Catherine Edward ~ On Hiatus:
I enjoyed reading this story very much. Thanks for sharing it here. It was well written with good descriptions.Rachel travels to the Black Forest Island for an archeological dig and soon finds her team mates missing. When all the puzzle pieces fall into place it was something they weren't prepare...

hakimdimacawa:
Honestly to say this book that I really wonder about the flow of this story. Because it is great and interested the whole way of thought. I never thought that the Capricorn would be the bad. In another words the characters were developed very well. So far, I will recommended to all readers that w...

SeanSavage:
Good plot that moves fairly quickly. Time passage somewhat vague. but not indecipherable. Very good syntax, grammar and punctuation. The story flowed very well, however, the breaks between chapters and the time jumps tended to be slightly confusing at first. I could see where the author was going...

Lacey Eder:
The stories remind me of the chilling 2 sentence stories on Reddit. Creepy, but not too scary and short. There were a couple of spelling errors throughout, which probably should've been taken care of beforehand. But, if this were available on Kindle Unlimited for $1-5, I'd consider buying it then.

Victoria Lovett:
I really enjoyed reading this. The ending was a very nice twist. I never expected that. Overall this has been one of the best books I've read in a long while. Excellent work. I would buy this as a real book instead of just one on my phone if I had the chance.

Jason Phang:
I'm pretty new to Inkitt (this is only my 4th book) and I must say I've been thoroughly impressed by the quality of the authors here. Remnants of Chaos is an excellently written book that hooks the reader, and doesn't let go. There are some grammatical and typographical errors, but nothing too se...

Deleted User:
What a story. It may be short and small but it is mighty and massive in creativity. However, I did not feel any romance in the story rather than a lot of horror. It was a great read and I cannot wait to see what this author has next on the agenda. Sometimes short stories have the best content and...

Alex Rushmer:
Wow. I really don't think I came into this story prepared. This caught me completely off-guard, but not in a bad way. It was so bizarre yet so entertaining that I was drawn in right away, especially after I realized that the initial scene was only a fantasy. This story was a little too graphic fo...

Sharon Bergevin:
iIt was a good story line...The characters were very colorful and i liked the various direction of each character.. The direction of the story was very smooth and direct.....i would recommend it for others to read this. .....great job ending it with hope......i was impressed by the way each char...

Other Collections

About Us:

Inkitt is the world’s first reader-powered book publisher, offering an online community for talented authors and book lovers. Write captivating stories, read enchanting novels, and we’ll publish the books you love the most based on crowd wisdom.